Personally I don't think scores ever reflected a games worth, its one persons opinion.

Things that fans wanted from a traditional FF game were removed and thus in turn have made them biased. Removing tedious things such as shops/exp?(cp here)/world map/game mechanics etc that give a false sense of freedom is a nice change. FF has always been cure>cura>ether, full health after doesn't diminish the game at all.

Story wise it must of been very complex to piece each character and amalgamate into a single story. The scenery complements this complexity nicely, rich environments and scenics views are quite breathtaking.

13 story/gameplay wise if viewed for its merits and not from missing traditional traits of its lineage is a great game. Compared to recent jprpgs such as wkc,so4,valkyria chronicles,demon souls,eternal sonata theres just no comparison when it comes to the overall feel nothing short of a Final Fantasy and that's without the victory theme

Awesome review though. One of the best rpg's I've ever played (if not the). I've only gotten to the fifth ark (the Will To Fight soundtrack is awesome there), but so far each character has in-depth story, even Sahz lol, Which is hard to do while keeping you interested.

They did an excellent job on that part. Until your able to form teams, There is no main character. all given equal attention and nothing seemed added on. And props to Square Enix for making three bad ass female characters with excellent personalities... Well... maybe not Vanille, but she's cute so whatever